


Of Ghosts and Geniuses

by bluesandpaper



Category: Red Velvet (K-pop Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, But she is also not a ghost, F/F, Genius Seungwan, Joohyun is a ghost, Smartdy, Two loners on a rooftop one foot apart cause they are gay, Urban Legends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-16
Updated: 2021-01-16
Packaged: 2021-03-13 22:16:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28785546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluesandpaper/pseuds/bluesandpaper
Summary: Seungwan is curious about the rumors of the ghost on the school rooftop. She goes up to get away from the crowd in the cafeteria and... Are ghosts supposed to be this pretty?
Relationships: Bae Joohyun | Irene/Son Seungwan | Wendy
Comments: 14
Kudos: 67





	Of Ghosts and Geniuses

There is a ghost on the roof of the school.

Some say she died while falling off, that she was joking with a friend and one mishap suddenly became misfortune.

Others say she died of a broken heart, that she confessed on the rooftop the day before graduation, and the pain of rejection left her to wither away on the spot.

No one really knows what happened to her, only that someone died once on the school grounds, only that there is a ghost on the roof of the school.

Beyond tales of the student’s disappearance, there are many more tales of sightings.

A group of delinquent second years claim that they were on the roof cutting class when they saw a girl as pale as paper gleam from her seat under the awning. They say she looked up and her eyes shined beams at them, piercing in the afternoon sun. Though they were the most intimidating kids on campus, they ran away in fear.

A member of the student council says that he went up there during his rounds, found long black hair whistle in the wind. He called out to her to ask why she was up there, ready to admonish the girl into returning to the cafeteria. She turned around to acknowledge him. All he saw was blank white.

There are many more like that, some even saying that they spotted her in the girl’s bathroom or by the fountain in the courtyard. They’re all similar, describing the ghost as having long black hair and pale skin.

Seungwan’s heard so many. Rumors always peaked around another sighting, swirling around the cafeteria in the breeze of whispers of passing students. The silence of sitting alone always gave her enough time to catch the conversations of those around her.

So while she’s heard so many, she doesn’t believe any of it.

That doesn’t stop the suspicion and anxiety that rises in her chest, however. While her mind tells herself that ghosts don’t exist, that there’s no scientific basis for them, she can’t help but feel an inkling of worry grow with each step she takes up the stairs leading to the rooftop.

The doors open, and she’s alone.

She doesn’t have a group of delinquents to hang around. She’s not a student council member on patrols.

She’s there alone because she has nothing better to do, because class is too much to listen to with all of those conversations of ghosts and long black hair and pale skin.

And maybe she just wants to see it for herself.

But the doors are open and not a soul is on the rooftop. All she sees is a vast blue sky only interrupted by the midday sun, like bright blight radiating outward to tinge the blue with a hint of yellow, almost green where they intersect.

She walks across to the fencing that lines the edges of the roof, put up years ago after the incident that sparked the rumors of the ghost. The administration says it’s to prevent any accidents from occurring. Seungwan is sure that one had already occurred.

Regardless, there’s a fence, and Seungwan has a strange urge to climb it, just to see if she can. But she doesn’t. Curiosity may have been enough to bring her up here, but even she has her limits. Instead, she settles for sticking her fingers in the metal diamonds and gazing at the view, school courtyard extending outward before giving way to residential streets just beyond the gates.

If she didn’t hate being at school so much, maybe she would’ve thought that it looked nice, pretty, even, to see the slats of rooftops peek out between trees and streetlights meander down.

This rooftop is as far away from the other students as she can get. And with no ghost problem, this might be the perfect spot.

Seungwan's spot.

She wouldn’t have to worry about her parents knowing that she’s skipping school, but she also wouldn’t have to worry about the nuisance she is to her classmates. They are even bigger nuisances to her sometimes, what with all of their complaints and poorly concealed scorn over how the teachers treat her like a golden child with every response.

It’s not like she asked for the attention. She just wanted to share her thoughts on "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead", wanted to compare it to this other absurdist play she had read earlier, "Waiting for Godot". She didn’t mean for the teacher to applaud her over her “detailed analysis of existentialism and its broad application as a literary theme”.

With that instance among many others, she was labeled as a genius. And she doesn’t even know if she appreciates the term.

While she finds herself engaged in the existentialism of absurdist plays, she doesn’t like _existing_ as much, not when it entails the unwanted ostracism of students and the unwanted glorification by the staff.

Maybe it would be fine to exist here, though. On this rooftop where she doesn’t have to care about ghosts or students or teachers.

She can be alone.

At least, that’s what she thinks until she hears the sound of the door rattling behind her. It could be another student council kid. They've been rotating shifts ever since the first sighting, which was apparently followed by several more. Regardless of who it is this time, they would still want to get Seungwan off the roof.

So she ducks behind the awning to the right of the entrance, the only location that gave the slightest possibility of concealment from the unwanted intruder.

All Seungwan could hear were the steps of school-assigned loafers on concrete, lightly tapping along. She closes her eyes and crosses her fingers, hoping that the steps will stop before turning back around and down the stairs of the roof access.

When she does hear the steps stop, she lets out a breath of relief, unclasping her fingers as she opens her eyes. Yet, she’s still waiting for the student to turn around and return into the building.

The tapping of heels continues. It’s not in the right direction. In fact, if Seungwan’s ears do not deceive her, the person is approaching her.

Well, her roof stint is short-lived, she supposes. Maybe she’ll try the abandoned classroom on the second floor next.

She unwittingly holds her breath as she sees a flash of brown shoes turn the corner.

And then she sees her.

There is a ghost on the roof of the school.

She has long black hair and pale skin.

And she’s standing right in front of Seungwan.

The glint of the sun obscures her face, but Seungwan is too scared to look harder, doesn’t want to see the blank white that the student council member described.

As the ghost encroaches on the shade of the awning, loafers ringing out some sort of death knell, Seungwan wants so badly to run away. But she’s rooted to the spot in fear, hands trembling and knees shaking even as she sits on the concrete.

The ghost opens its mouth.

“You’re in my spot.”

The voice is low and quiet, barely a decibel above a whisper. Would it be strange to say it sounds sweet? Delicate, like cotton candy?

Seungwan’s jaw hangs slightly. She can’t even move to respond.

The ghost merely sits down beside her, glint disappearing as the shade envelops them.

Upon closer look, she doesn’t look like a ghost, at least, not how Seungwan would imagine one. Yes, she has long black hair. Yes, she has pale skin. But she doesn’t have eyes that shine piercing beams, only glasses. She doesn’t have a face of blank white, only soft features, doe eyes and curved lips.

Seungwan could say that the ghost looks beautiful.

The genius tries to rationalize how the ghost acquired a recent school uniform if she is said to have died years ago, and how she can generate sounds of contact between shoes and concrete if she is incorporeal. Could ghosts even talk? There are far too many questions and not enough answers.

Seungwan’s mind is racing too fast to concern itself with closing the mouth that is still held ajar.

“You could catch flies if you do that, you know.”

Seungwan’s mind stops running. It looks for a proper response instead, and finally closes her mouth.

“You’re the ghost.”

Not the ideal first sentence.

“You’re the first person who hasn’t run away.”

“I was too scared to,” Seungwan sputters.

The ghost chuckles in the way that humans would. “Yes, well, that usually motivates people to move rather than stay.”

Her humor is warmer than she looks. At least, if Seungwan is currently having an encounter with the supernatural, this beautiful being seems to be benevolent. Seungwan feels as though she should offer some sort of way out.

“Would you want me to leave?”

The ghost raises an eyebrow and gives pointed response, “You take my spot and you’re only asking this now?”

Seungwan shuffles as she rises from the floor, shoes starting to rapidly squeak away.

“Hey, wait a second,” comes the voice behind her. “I was only joking.”

The genius hears that unmistakably human chuckle again. Of course, she could keep walking away and prevent her eventual doom at the hands of this pretty ghost/demon/supernatural student, but something compels her to turn and sit back down. Call it magic.

“Already trying to leave before introductions I see,” says the ghost.

“I just thought that—“

“It’s okay. I know my humor is confusing sometimes. I’m Joohyun, by the way. Not a ghost either.”

“Seungwan,” she responds hesitantly.

She offers her hand to Seungwan who meets it with her own trembling hand. They clasp together and shake, Seungwan assuming that the physical contact serves as a confirmation of the other girl’s human status.

“So what brings you up here, Seungwan?” Joohyun says the name as if trying it for the first time, tongue rolling around the syllables in a lilting manner. “I don’t get visitors very often.”

Seungwan brings her knees up, leaning her side against the wall of the roof entrance. “Just needed to get away. I thought the roof would be empty.”

“Oh, that’s too bad. It isn’t empty because I hear it’s haunted by a ghost.” Joohyun’s eyes shine knowingly.

“I knew there wasn’t a ghost, though. That’s why I came up.”

“But you were still scared, weren’t you?”

Seungwan can’t deny the display of shock that they had both witnessed. Still, she prefers not to admit to the question.

“Anyway, why are you up here? I feel like I don’t see you around school at all.”

Seungwan would know if she’d seen this beautiful girl before. Anyone would have, even if they didn’t spend as much time as Seungwan did observing the students around them.

“I like being outside on the days that I can. I don’t get out very much anymore, even to school. My health doesn’t permit me to.”

“Your health?”

“I have a weak constitution, riddled with allergies and the like.”

That would explain a lot, why Seungwan never sees her, why she’s so pale. She seems so lively despite that, biting wit more than compensating for the fragility of her physical frame.

Seungwan gives her best shot at comforting the girl. “You look fine to me.”

That human chuckle comes out again. “Maybe if you told me that before all those students ran away from the sight of me, I would’ve believed you.”

“I think it’s just the myth getting to our heads. It has nothing to do with how you look, really,” the genius insists.

“How can you be so confident? Even you seemed like you wanted to run away.”

“I mean, I’m here now, right? And looking at you closer…” Seungwan looks over the girl’s features again, lingers on the slope of her nose, the row of lashes, the slight dip of her Cupid’s bow.

“You’re staring.”

Seungwan stumbles, the tracks of her train of thought crumbling at the girl’s interruption.

“I just wanted to say you were beautiful,” the not-so-genius spills out.

For the first time during their conversation, Joohyun turns away, lets Seungwan exhale for the second she does not spend in the mistaken ghost’s withering gaze.

“Thank you.”

Seungwan almost thinks she can see a tint of pink paint Joohyun’s pale skin, cheeks just beyond Seungwan’s vision.

“I- You’re welcome.”

Joohyun turns back, and her initial banter seems to return with it. “You’re not so bad yourself.”

Now it’s Seungwan’s turn to blush, averting her eyes as the not-a-ghost continues the conversation. “Why are _you_ up here anyway? I know you told me that you wanted to get away, but it doesn’t tell me much. What are you getting away from?”

Seungwan bites the inside of her cheek, thinking of a proper answer.

“People, I guess?” She shrugs, unsure. “The cafeteria’s too loud at this time.”

“You didn’t even stop there to get food? I hear it’s pretty good.”

“Well, it doesn’t look like you don’t go there either,” Seungwan shoots back.

“I don’t.” Joohyun pulls out a bag from her backpack. “I bring my own lunch.”

She begins separating containers of food from the bag, an almost unending train of rice, snacks, sides, and other assorted goods appearing from the lunch sack.

“Wow. That- That’s a lot of food.”

Joohyun waves away the statement with her hand. “My mom worries too much, says she doesn’t want me to run out of calories.” She gestures to the all of the food. “I mean, look at this, though! It’s not like I could run out if you pack _this_ much. Feel free to have some, by the way. I can’t eat this all alone.”

Seungwan shakes her head. “I’m okay, it’s for you anyway.”

Joohyun snatches Seungwan’s wrist, able to wrap her whole hand around it.

“Seungwan, it looks like you need the calories more than I do. Eat.”

A chill crawls up the genius’s spine as she feels the older girl’s voice bear uncanny resemblance to her mother’s sentiments. She grabs a pair of chopsticks and digs in.

Between mouthfuls, Joohyun continues probing Seungwan. “You still never really answered my question. Do you get away from the cafeteria because of how loud it is, or because of the people?”

“Both, maybe? It’s more like I need to get away from what the people are saying.” Seungwan pops a baby carrot into her mouth before going on. “The people are what makes the cafeteria loud.”

“And what are they saying that’s more scary than a ghost?”

“They talk about me, sometimes. When I pass by I can hear my name. Most times, I can hear what they say but I never stick around long enough to listen anymore.”

“Do they hate you?” Joohyun asks, almost too nonchalantly.

“Maybe. I don’t know. They always complain about me being a know-it-all.”

“Are you?”

“Excuse me?”

“Are you a know-it-all?”

Seungwan furrows her brow for a moment, searching Joohyun’s features for any indication of resentment or prejudice. Finding none, she answers. “I guess I am? I just like learning things. I read all the time. If that’s enough to classify me as a know-it-all, then that’s what I am.”

Joohyun shovels spoonfuls of rice into her mouth as Seungwan speaks, swallowing thickly before appearing to contemplate her own reply.

“There’s nothing wrong with that. What’s wrong with liking to learn things?”

Seungwan purses her lips. “I think what they don’t like is how much the teachers fawn over me for it. Well, I- I don’t like it either though.”

“Then don’t they hate the teachers, and not you?”

With all of the thinking that the girl does, she’s never thought of it that way before.

“You seem pretty wise for someone who doesn’t get out very much.”

“You seem less smart than a genius should be, thinking that ghosts exist.”

Seungwan curls into herself upon hearing the term. “I didn’t call myself a genius.”

“It’s not a bad word,” Joohyun remarks. “I hear it a lot attached to your name, even as someone in and out of the hospital.” She spears a sausage with her chopstick. “And when I do, it’s not used as a bad word.”

Seungwan eases slightly.

“What do you mean?”

“When I hear people call you a genius, it’s usually in praise or admiration. There’s a lot of people that respect what you’re capable of, even if you don’t see it.”

Seungwan doesn’t even know how to respond, a sharp inhale replacing the words that would’ve formed her reply.

So Joohyun continues. “I guess we both have labels we never wanted. A pretty ghost and a cute genius, what a strange pair.”

“Cute?”

“We don’t have to read too much into adjectives, genius. My dialogue is not the subject of your literary analysis.” Though she speaks with the same sharpness, Joohyun’s smile is round, soft.

Perhaps Seungwan wouldn’t even want to dissect Joohyun’s words, not when staring at her face was more than enough to be a distraction.

She ducks her head down, tracing the cracks of the concrete with her eyes instead of getting lost tracing the lines of Joohyun’s face.

She could recreate it in her head if she really wanted to, photographic memory that usually served her well in the academic setting now serving to permanently imprint Joohyun’s beauty on her mind, a perfect picture for her to visit any time she liked. As she sits staring at the concrete, the lines start to look like her.

A breeze blows by, sweeping Seungwan’s bangs to obscure her eyes.

She feels the contact of cold skin graze her forehead, looking up to meet Joohyun’s stare.

Her hands feel like the touch of a ghost, light as they brush the bangs out of Seungwan’s eyes. As she does so, their eyes meet, and Seungwan feels as though she could sink into the abyss that is Joohyun’s pupils, the spinning expanse of dark brown surrounding it like a tornado threatening to suck her in.

They’re leaned in too close together, Joohyun’s hot breath a contrast to her freezing fingers. Seungwan’s eyes flit down to her lips, that Cupid’s bow she had lingered on for too long earlier. The genius almost feels like leaning in further, curiosity and will to learn driving her to discover what it would be like to…

Too quickly, they turn away from each other, false coughs and the clearing of throats amplifying the atmosphere of awkward tension.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have touched you without your permission,” Joohyun stammers.

Seungwan gives a nervous laugh. “No, no, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”

The conversation lulls to silence, only the sound of closing containers and rustling fabric filling the air as Joohyun packs away the lunch they had shared.

Seungwan startles when she hears the clattering of plastic, the rattling of capsules in orange cylinders.

Joohyun smiles apologetically. “Sorry, they slipped from my fingers.”

Looking down where they fell, Seungwan sees three different sizes of medication bottles rolling on the concrete, finding even more poking out of Joohyun’s bag.

Seungwan opens her mouth slightly, unsure of what to say.

“I know,” Joohyun starts, “It’s a lot of medication. I told you, I’m riddled with allergies.”

She can only watch as the frequent absentee student downs pill after pill, carefully inspecting the containers to provide the correct dosage before she does.

Something about the scene unsettles Seungwan, not the sight of all that medication or how much Joohyun needed to take, but the fact that someone so alive could be sick enough to be a walking ghost.

After Joohyun zips up her purple backpack, medication and leftovers packed neatly inside, she stumbles as she tries to stand.

Seungwan doesn’t hesitate to offer her arm for support, wrapping an arm around the fragile girl’s waist too instinctively.

“I’m okay, I’m okay,” Joohyun says. “I just wanted to stretch a little before this lunch break is over.

Concern is still written into Seungwan’s features, but she relaxes as she watches the girl extend her arms upward, fingertips skimming the sky.

“It’s nice, isn’t it?”

“What is?”

“The sky,” the sick girl says succinctly. “It’s why I like being up here so much. I get to see what I think is the world’s purest form of blue.”

Seungwan glances over the girl’s shoulder, trying to see the same view she does between the metal of the fencing. “It looks pretty regular to me.”

“Maybe if you didn’t get to see it as little as I have, you would think differently,” Joohyun comments, stepping out from the shade of the awning and into the sun. “Weird how the ghost is able to see more than the genius does.”

“It’s just the scattering of light. Radiation bouncing off of particles. It’s nothing new.”

“Isn’t that amazing in and of itself? Isn't it incredible that light from all that distance can strike the earth and produce such a wonderful color?”

Joohyun’s gaze is fixed on the horizon, leaving Seungwan to see her silhouette striking against the brilliant blue background. Why would anyone focus on that sky when the girl in front of her was so much more beautiful?

“Is it special if it happens all the time?”

“I think it’s special _because_ it happens all the time. It’s amazing that you get to see it so often.”

Seungwan doesn’t have an argument against that.

“It’s like you, you know,” Joohyun says.

“Unappreciated?”

“Blue.”

Seungwan pulls a confused expression. “Now that’s not much better.”

Joohyun turns to face Seungwan, grinning ear to ear.

“But I like blue.”

The bell rings to signal the end of the lunch period before Seungwan can even think to respond.

Joohyun walks back over to the awning, pulling the straps of her backpack over her shoulders as she sits down again.

“You’re not leaving?” Seungwan questions, perplexed.

Joohyun laughs. “I have to get back to my usual haunting.”

Seungwan’s eyebrows raise higher.

Joohyun laughs even louder. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding. You’d think for someone so smart, you’d be less gullible.”

Seungwan wishes she could gather enough wit to counter the girl.

“I’m just going to stick around and admire this view for a little longer. I have to get back to the hospital after this, check-ups for my chronic condition and whatnot.”

The late bell comes over the speakers, a reminder that Seungwan has to get to class.

“Shouldn’t you get going, genius?”

Said genius grabs her backpack, beginning to walk away. But something tugs at her to stay, arrange to meet her again.

Even with all the people Seungwan wants to get away from, she doesn’t think she wants to run away this time.

So her loafers come to a halt. She pivots on her heel.

Joohyun looks up at her expectantly.

“Will you be here tomorrow?”

She sees bright white, a smile from the shade.

“I’ll try.”

“And you won’t mind if I come again?”

“As long as you don’t bring a ghost.”

“Then… Then I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

“Goodbye, Blue.”

Seungwan swings around the corner, rushing down the stairs already minutes past the start of class.

She feels a smile tug at the corners of her lips.

There is a ghost on the roof of the school.

And Seungwan can’t wait to see her again.

**Author's Note:**

> Well hello everyone! I hope you liked this oneshot! 
> 
> For those of you who have been following me as an author, I'd just like to start by saying happy late new year! I was really looking forward to greeting you all in this new year much earlier, but then life struck. I'll get to that a little later.
> 
> First, welcome back Red Velvet! I bet you were all screaming as much as I was watching those OT5 performances!! I'll be honest, I cried hearing Wendy sing. I was writing something else that was supposed to be my gift for them returning. Since that didn't happen, I guess this can serve as my gift to welcome back Irene! I missed her so much. I'm crossing my fingers that we'll see them all again soon. Maybe releasing this will give us a little more good luck?
> 
> Now to the apologies. I'm sorry for returning to you all so late. I'd like to give a few explanations and clarifications of my plans going forward so that there's no confusion. I've been busy lately, what with the new year bringing back school, unfortunately. Then I had my wisdom teeth pulled out, which left me out of commission from the pain for a whole week. On top of that, I suffered from the second worst bout of writer's block I've ever had! Needless to say, it was a lot.
> 
> But there is good news! I am not abandoning the works I already have out. 11:11 and Can we, when we meet? are definitely coming back! They're my babies, and I can't abandon them. More than that, while I was stewing over how long it was taking me to write the new chapter (the next chapter of 11:11 is very important, so I'm spending a lot of time trying to get it right), I ended up trying to produce a finished work for you all. It's a very, very long oneshot of which I've already written 17k words. As mini spoilers, it's a high school AU featuring a Student Council Pres Joohyun and a class clown Seungwan. I'm hoping to have that out and finished sometime soon. 
> 
> Since my schedule is pretty packed the next coming months, there might be some more time between updates than before. I'm still trying to be as diligent as possible, but I'm also finding that putting too much pressure on myself leads to poor results (a.k.a. the three failed drafts I currently have of the next chapter of 11:11). I hope you'll be patient with me.
> 
> All of that aside, I really hope you liked this work. It was something I needed to write just to get back into the swing of things. I feel optimistic about the future, thankful for my readers, and hopeful that we'll see our cake girls soon! Thank you for everything, my lovely readers!
> 
> Signing off,  
> Blue


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